He charges about £92,000 (US$138,000) for each 5.5m set of the three leaders. Commentators have remarked with growing disquiet on the combined cost of this and other self-aggrandizing ventures — most notably the vast 50 hectare Ambedkar Park that is being completed in the city center. It is a stupendously ostentatious venture, perhaps four times the size of Trafalgar Square in London, and has no grass but is paved entirely with highly polished, shimmering marble and dotted with giant elephant statues, red sandstone domed buildings and rows of tall marble pillars, each topped with more bronze elephants.
Prajapati, who comes from what is known in curious officialeze as a “backward caste,” shrugs off the criticism, arguing that the aim is to honor the achievements of India’s most oppressed communities.
“This is public money which is being returned to the people. It’s not as if it is being deposited in bank accounts in Switzerland. Monuments are a good way to educate people,” he said. “Dalits worship her as a goddess, as someone who has come to free them from the misery into which they were born. Maybe it is wrong to worship a politician, but it’s their choice.”
RSS